After leaving high school early, Underwood joins IU

While the seniors at St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Louisville, Ohio, are busy picking out dresses and tuxes for prom, Dennis Underwood is worrying about shoulder pads and cleats.\nUnderwood, a freshman running back, became the first member of IU football coach Terry Hoeppner's inaugural recruiting class to make it to Bloomington. Underwood decided instead of sticking it out in high school for one more semester, he would join IU and hit the ground running as he enrolled in January.\nGoing into his senior year, Underwood was prepared to make a big impact. Instead, his season was finished before it even started. It wasn't an injury that prevented Underwood from making moves on the field -- it was his age.\nAt the start of the season, Underwood was 19, and according to Ohio High School Athletic Association rules, he was declared ineligible because he turned 19 before Aug. 1.\nDespite not getting to play his senior year, Underwood said he has no regrets about enrolling in January and starting his college life months before the rest of his graduating class.\n"I think the best decision for me, not saying that I'm greater than anybody else, I'm just thinking it was better for me in my situation," Underwood said. "The only thing I'm missing out right now is a prom. That's really nothing."\nGetting acclimated to the University, while difficult for many freshmen, hasn't been much of a problem for Underwood because of his teammates.\nOne player Underwood has been able to rely on is redshirt freshman quarterback Mike Vlahogeorge.\nVlahogeorge also enrolled early last January after graduating in December 2003 from Lafayette Jefferson in Lafayette.\nMuch like Underwood, Vlahogeorge found the experience to be rewarding in preparing him for Division I football and a big college campus, he said.\n"It was real beneficial for me in football at the quarterback position, because there is so much information. I felt like I would have a better summer and be able (to) come in the fall stronger if I came here early," Vlahogeorge said. "(The hardest part) was just getting acclimated to college life. Usually you have a summer before the year and you jump into it with your high school friends. I was on my own so I had to get here and get acclimated."\nHaving a head start over the rest of his class could be advantageous for him to get playing time in the fall with a loaded backfield.\nIn addition to Underwood, the Hoosiers return seniors Chris Taylor and Yamar Washington, and incoming freshmen Justin Carrington, Demetrius McCray and Bryan Payton. Despite having an advantage over the other freshmen running backs in terms of knowing the plays and terminology, he still has work to be ready for the fall, said running backs coach Gerald Brown.\n"He's got some work to do; he plays in spurts sometimes," Brown said. "Good running backs are good running backs. They find a way to get down field and make things happen. (Underwood) has to work on the little things, maintain tempo, ball security and those types of things that when you come out of high school you might not pay as much attention to."\nHaving the chance to get extra work with the team is a special opportunity for Underwood, one Hoeppner hopes he is taking full advantage of, he said.\n"You really do gain a gray shirt, you gain an extra spring and you still have five years to play for," Hoeppner said. "Your clock really changes where you start and hopefully he will take advantage of it and learn a lot. That transition from high school to college, you got to be able to make that, you got to be able to make the things on campus and in the classroom work."\nThough Underwood faces many challenges as he continues his first spring in football, he has already found a stark difference between the gridiron at St. Thomas Aquinas and IU, he said.\n"High school is not really serious college is really, really serious," he said. "You have to do everything precisely right."\n-- Contact Staff Writer at Dan Click at daaclick@indiana.edu.